


staying behind

by joisattempting



Series: look over there it's a wild falsettos college au [22]
Category: Falsettos - Lapine/Finn
Genre: Alternate Universe - Swimming, Attempt at Humor, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Humor, M/M, No Angst, Swimming, Swimming Pools, at least i hope not??, don’t curse pls it’s bad for the baby, it’s the last one, i’m kinda sad, shit man, trina is a good mother, whizzer and mendel still can’t drink yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:34:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22846465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joisattempting/pseuds/joisattempting
Summary: the tight-knit family go to the pool on their last day of junior year.
Relationships: Dr. Charlotte/Cordelia (Falsettos), Trina/Mendel Weisenbachfeld, Whizzer Brown/Marvin
Series: look over there it's a wild falsettos college au [22]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1518932
Comments: 36
Kudos: 56





	staying behind

**Author's Note:**

> shit, man.  
> it’s the last one. 
> 
> the day i’d finish this seemed like ages away when i first started the series. it’s crazy to think that i’m here right now, publishing the final installment. it’s been such a big part of my life since october, and i’m really kind of sad to be leaving it. this has given me the confidence to put my writing out there. this has helped me make friends. wonderful, kind, amazing friends that have been nothing but supportive as we journeyed through this experience together (looking at you @witherbrown, @exexlovers, @kingofthelosers, @TheHufflePuffTimelord, @statsvitenskap, and so many others :D). writing this broadened my horizons as a writer, and helped me delve deeper into the mindsets and traits of these characters that i love so incredibly much. to me, this college au was a source of inspiration, an outlet of creativity. and that may sound cheesy and dramatic, like most things i say lmao, but it’s true. from the successes to the frustrations to the rage quit hiatus i took (cough), i’ve absolutely loved every second of the writing process. 
> 
> thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you that have stuck with me. whether that be from the beginning, or hopping on the bandwagon later on, please know that all of your comments and kind words really do have an impact on me, and it flatters me to no end that you took the time to read my stories. 
> 
> from me to you, thank you. i love and appreciate every single person that’s supported me and this series <3333
> 
> \- sarah :)
> 
> exhales  
> that was so long but it had to be said lmao  
> i forgot to mention! i may or may not write a separate chapterfic for everyone’s birthdays? (except marvin’s because i already did his), so if that’s something you want to see, pls pls tell me! also my requests are always open, so feel free to suggest ideas! i’m gonna need a lot of them after this is over lol
> 
> comments and kudos really do make me very very happy, i love reading them sm <3

On the last day of junior year, the apartment was tranquil. Everyone had assumed their places in the living room, unspeaking. Nobody was doing anything, per se, rather staring penetratingly up at the white-painted ceiling, deep in thought. Together, but alone at the same time. Not a peep could be heard from baby Jason, who seemed to have gotten the memo that now wasn’t exactly the most convenient time to wail. 

Looking back on freshman year, college life had run them ragged. Yet it was only then, on the valedictory day of their third year that the six of them really came to terms with all the change life had thrown at them. Marvin’s brother, the mugging, the baby. Where had the time gone? It seemed only the preceding day they’d arrived from summer vacation for their first year at NYU. Mendel had been the earliest, arriving with Charlotte after coming out to his parents, Cordelia and Whizzer promptly after, and the remaining pair just a few days before term started. 

They’d matured immensely since then, to an extent that it was bizarre to think they were the same people. Marvin mellowed. Self-confidence began to grow in Mendel. Whizzer found compassion underneath his sarcasm. 

In a way, they owed everything to that university. Not solely because of its quality, but the things it had taught them outside of education. 

“You know what I want to do?” Whizzer mused, his hands behind his head. “I want to go to the pool, and get the nicest fucking tan in all of America,”

Affronted, Trina shushed him, quickly covering a  baffled Jason’s ears. “There’s a pool in Manhattan?” 

“Of course there’s a fucking pool in Manhattan, Trin-”

“Stop cursing, you invalid water fountain,”

“I’m sure our lovely friend Pamela can help us,” Cordelia suggested, shrugging. The prospect of the beach excited her, as did most things. 

“Pamela’s on some kind of GPS crack, I’m telling you,” Mendel said as he stared up at the white-painted ceiling. 

“Can we not discuss drugs in front of the child?” Charlotte half-yelled. On that note, everyone scrambled off the sofa to ready themselves for what was, quite possibly, the most chaotic beach trip of all time. Mendel and Trina dashed back to the dormitories, and met the others in the university car park, the former clutching numerous cringeworthy floaties. 

“Didn’t I tell you not to bring the floats?” Marvin facepalmed, dressed in a rash vest and orange board shorts that wounded Whizzer physically.

“Excuse me? This is my entire brand. You know what you’re doing right now? You’re ruining my brand, Marvin Feldman. Think about that,” Mendel spat, aggressively throwing one of the floaties at Marvin. 

The car ride to the pool was an interesting one, to say the least. Marvin took a nap in the passenger seat, only to wake up to Charlotte screaming, “I will turn this car around, you savages! I will  _ turn this car around!” _ for a reason blissfully unbeknownst to him. 

“Hey, Trin, we’re gonna start the cannonball contest. Mendel’s judging, so you’re probably going to win regardless,” Dee lingered awkwardly at the foot of the striped deckchair Trina sat on. To their happiness, the pool wasn’t as packed as they’d anticipated. 

The English major was gently applying sunscreen to a fussing Jason, dressed in a red spotted bikini and a floppy straw hat. To Cordelia, she looked like something straight from one of those nineteen-sixties Coke ads. “As long as ‘Del stays here with Jase, I’m down,”

The blonde laughed, absently adjusting the strap on her swimsuit. “He’d glue his butt to the seat if you asked him to. C’mon, let’s go watch Whizzer scream about how cold it is,”

If you asked Marvin how he got roped into the cannonball contest, he wouldn’t be able to give you an answer. Here he was, standing in line for the diving board, watching as Mendel introduced the competition in the shittiest game show host voice the law major was quite sure he’d ever heard. 

“Ladies, gentlemen, and everyone in between, welcome to the first annual cannonball contest. I’m your host, Mendel Joseph Weisenbachfeld,” the man yelled, using an upended water bottle as his microphone. 

“We’ve literally never done this before,” Charlotte called. She was first on the diving board. 

“That’s why I said  _ first annual! _ ” Mendel sighed, and the contest commenced.

The med student’s jump was clean and precise, not really making any sort of splash. Knowing her, she’d probably done the physics beforehand. Whizzer pushed Cordelia into the pool to sabotage her. The aged lifeguard blew his whistle loudly. The photographer flipped him off. 

Her blonde head emerged from under the water. “Wow, just when I almost didn’t want to unscrew the bolts in your IKEA bed while you sleep, you pull this on me,”

“You’ve been thinking about that?” Trina stared at her with wide eyes, more than slightly concerned.

“It plagues me to this day,” Dee said, putting on a raspy, croaky British accent. 

“Stop offending England and get off the diving board,” Mendel called, shaking soggy black ringlets from his eyes. 

After Whizzer bailed on his turn because the water was “colder than a polar bear’s asshole”, and Marvin had actually played by the rules and produced the largest splash with his leap into the water, Mendel called time, speaking animatedly into his microphone with his blue-and-purple octopus trunks on full display. Nobody was surprised that he’d declared Trina’s frenetic jump the winner. Marvin called bullshit, and demanded a rematch, which set off a string of bickering from the two childhood friends. It was all an act, of course, because neither man could take the other seriously enough to properly quarrel with him. This gave the others the perfect opportunity to slip away to the pool bar. 

“I got you a piña colada,” Charlotte grinned, handing Marvin the thick, yellow alcoholic drink. 

“Puerto Rico is shaking,” Marvin said trenchantly, but grabbing the beverage nonetheless. Mendel and Whizzer, visibly upset, held Sprite bottles and scowled. “No booze for the children?”

Laughing, Trina sipped at her Shirley Temple. She’d had them before her twenty-first, but never with alcohol. “No. I don’t want to go to jail today,” she said, and laced her fingers with Mendel’s. That was all it took to wipe the glare clear off his face. She’d moved to sit beside him on the one blue, striped chair, and he cuddled close to her side. They locked eyes briefly, never pulling away as they gazed into cosmos of azure and umber. In that moment, Mendel Weisenbachfeld hadn’t a care in the world. After all, there was nothing that could bother him when his girlfriend was smiling like she was at the present moment. He kissed her cheek, and she fondled his curls.

“You’re not even going to let me have a little?”

“Nope. You’re still a baby,”

For now, just for now, all was right with the universe.

He was so wrapped up in the girl’s beauty that he hadn’t noticed Whizzer come and go, returning with trays of hot dogs, or the sky beginning to darken as the hues of cornflower faded to oranges and purples. “I thought we could watch the sunset and I could get a good picture,”

Murmuring their agreements, everybody slid off the chairs and seated themselves on the slippery, wet tile. 

“Look at that sexy, sexy sunset,” Whizzer remarked, holding the camera he’d brought to his eye. 

His lover laughed loudly, bumping his shoulder. “It’s not as sexy as you, though,” he said, spooning mushy baby food into Jason’s mouth. 

“Yeah, I get that a lot,”

“I meant to tell you,” Marvin began nervously, addressing all his friends. “I’m staying here this summer,”

“Well, that’s good. I’d kill you if you left me here with Jason,” Trina commented. “‘Del and I found an apartment together. It’s just a couple floors down from yours,”

Playfully, Charlotte nudged her girlfriend. “Fuck, I was hoping we could get some peace and quiet for two months,”

Cordelia gasped loudly, a look of false offence on her pale face. “Charlotte DuBois, watch your language in front of the children,”

Towels draped over their shoulders and water dripping from their sopping hair, the seven of them huddled together as the sun set over the horizon on their final day of junior year. 

  
  


_ fin.  _

  
  


_ started 16.10.19 _

_ finished 22.2.20 _


End file.
